Housing-friendly Zoning Resources

Missing Middle Housing (MMH)

How can MMH help with the housing shortage in our region?

Housing supply on the market is at an historic low and in the 40 years data has been collected, there have never been fewer homes for sale. Building costs are skyrocketing and home prices are rising exponentially faster than household incomes. To meet housing needs, we must offer more homes at lower prices. One solution is to return to our history and this idea is gaining traction. In the 1920s and 1930s our housing supply had a higher proportion of multi-family housing types. The housing type that we are missing today that worked so well a century ago to meet housing needs are in demand again. People are asking for smaller multi-family living situations that are located closer to downtown and in a walkable neighborhood with lower rents and attainable purchase prices.

Missing Middle Housing or MMH is a range of house-scale buildings with multiple units that are compatible in scale and form with detached single-family homes and located in a walkable neighborhood. This type of housing can look like a larger single-family home, a large mansion, or a group of townhouses. The structure is designed in such a way to be very compatible with any residential neighborhood on the outside. On the inside the capacity of the building is larger than one would expect, yet unfortunately these types of neighborhoods are often zoned as single-family residential. This means that multi-family buildings are often not allowed and therefore preventing Missing Middle types from being built. 

Communities can do a lot to help meet the demand for housing by creating more MMH types including looking at their zoning. Zoning ordinances are often the most identifiable challenge to MMH and already changes are being made in our own communities including Traverse City, Charlevoix, Manistee and other.

But is it affordable?

According to the missing middle website (opticosdesign.com) Missing Middle Housing is affordable by design and is often referred to as “naturally occurring affordable housing” or “NOAH,” There are many reasons to consider MMH- to address not only housing shortages but also affordability. “Missing Middle Housing is a proven, affordable-by-design housing solution that meets the growing demand for walkable neighborhood living. It provides a “missing middle” option between subsidized housing and market-rate mid- to high-rise housing (Parolek 2016). “

How does this work?

Because MMH units typically range from studios to three-bedrooms, they are inherently smaller than units in conventional single-family housing making them more affordable. Since they share a lot with other units, so the land costs associated with each unit are lower. Also, the simple construction makes it viable for homeowners and local businesses to build MMH and in turn increasing the pool of “developers” able to contribute to the supply of affordable housing. MMH is often tied to walkable places, so the need for parking is lower, which increases affordability by lowering housing costs through smaller lot sizes, while also lowering the cost of transportation.

What are some of the barriers to missing middle housing and how can we address them?

Outdated regulations and codes often prohibit the MMH designs and do not allow them to get built. Also, many of the FHA-backed federal loans and loan guarantees fall under the single-family home category. This means that federal loans and mortgages can limit commercial floor space in mixed-use buildings so that it becomes nearly impossible to create new, mixed-use buildings with six stories or less.  One way to address this is for communities to evaluate their current zoning and land-use policies to consider what might be preventing MMH. They can then consider recommended changes that can enable MMH to be a way to contribute to the housing crisis. For example, Form-Based Codes put the emphasis on making sure the buildings in a neighborhood are compatible with their surroundings, while letting the mix of actual activities in them be more diverse. A form-based code offers a powerful alternative to conventional zoning regulation where the approach starts with looking at a community’s existing patterns of development and built form, climate, and other considerations and then creating a range of form-based zones. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Communities can look at other communities’ examples of MMH zoning changes and see how they can benefit your community.

To learn more about Missing Middle Housing visit missingmiddlehousing.com. You can also find information by following the links below.